Last night I had two hours of sleep before we had to be up to head to the airport. We were only allowed one carry-on which had to be less than 20 lbs to last us the next 5 days. I didn't think it was possible, but I packed light enough to even have a few pounds to spare haha I was proud of myself. Once in the airport, we met up with Assemblyman Rob Banta (for District 18 of California) and his daughter, Reina. From there, we boarded a super small plane, now a group of around 22 people, and we were Tacloban bound!
Never in my life have I been on a small plane like that where we literally walked up stairs into the main cabin. I've seen it in movies and such, but it was such a trip haha anywayys. The plane right was pretty uneventful and it only took an hour to get to our destination. Once we landed though, the mood changed significantly.
Tacloban was one of the cities that was most damaged as a result of the typhoon and that was very evident as soon and we stepped off of the plane. The small airport didn't have a roof or windows and we just saw hundreds of people sitting in the waiting area for their flights. There was debris everywhere and the whole airport was just in shatters. The conveyer belts for the luggage were broken, the roofs were collapsed and just everything was ruined. As we boarded our shuttles and began to drive to our next stop, the City Hall of Tanauan to meet with the Mayor, the devastation was unreal.
I have never seen such destruction in my life. Debris littered the streets and families were living in makeshift shelters made of rubble, sheet metal and tarps- basically anything they could find lying around. It was crazy to me to think that a pile of random debris on the side of the road might be a product of displaced items from hundreds of different owners- all brought together by the force of the typhoon. Most of the ride was just silence aside from the occasional sound of a picture being taken or someone saying something like "wow" or "this is crazy". I honestly almost cried on the way to City Hall because of everything I had seen- the children, families and shells of homes that were literally everywhere you looked.
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| Taken from the bus window as we drove from the Tacloban airport to our hotel. |
When we arrived at the City Hall, we got the opportunity to speak with the Mayor as he basically told us all of what happened to the city as a result of the typhoon. One story he told us was completely shocking to me. He explained in the days shortly after the typhoon, the city hall actually became a makeshift hospital where a group of American doctors called "Angels" would operate on victims of the typhoon on the office desks in the building. He explained that the roof had been completely blown off due to the severe winds are there were several feet of water on the floors. Being that there were so many injured, the water began to turn red with the blood of all the victims that visited. I was completely in shock as to the graphic-ness of it all. I couldn't imagine having to go through anything like that but he had to remain remotely calm in order to make sense of the chaos to help his people.
Shortly after, he walked us about a block or two behind City Hall to a mass grave which contained the bodies of 600+ citizens were buried, which will eventually become a memorial site. It was such an eerie feeling to be standing on an area of land where you know hundreds of bodies have been laid to rest. On the surface, it just looked like a huge grass field- children playing on it and families going on with their normal days- but the ground beneath carries an unbelievably heavy story of devastation and sorrow. That was such an indescribable emotion for me.
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| The burial site of 600+ victims of Typhoon Haiyan. |
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